


Mr. Kaplan's Day Off

by mascaret



Category: The Blacklist (TV)
Genre: Angst, Autopsies, Deceit, Gallows Humor, Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-03
Updated: 2017-06-03
Packaged: 2018-11-08 13:21:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11082441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mascaret/pseuds/mascaret
Summary: It's Mr. Kaplan's day off from Reddington, but Liz brings her into the Post Office for a series of off the books autopsies.





	Mr. Kaplan's Day Off

**Author's Note:**

> Part of a series of fics written after 4.2 when it seemed like Annie was someone both Kate and Raymond knew. Became au with Requiem.

_Mr. Kaplan's Day Off_

_Chapter 1_

“Do you realize what today is?” Elizabeth asked a pensive looking Reddington as he entered the Post Office with his closed phone clutched in his hand.

Reddington tilted his head and gave her an odd look, but said nothing.

“It's the anniversary.” Liz pointed out.

Reddington's brow furrowed before his head whipped around to Dembe.

Dembe was still by the elevator. He had his phone to his ear. He was too far away to have heard their exchange. Seeing Reddington looking his way, Dembe shook his head. Closing _his_ phone, Dembe sidled up to Red.

“She still isn't picking up.”

Reddington looked concerned. They both did.

“I think you should try.”

Reddington still had his phone in his hand, but he gave a little head shake.

“Who isn't picking up?” Liz looked between them. “What's going on?”

Ressler's arrival broke up the moment. Without a hint of mirth, Donald congratulated him. “Happy Anniversary, Reddington. As of today you have _officially_ been on the run for twenty-six years. A card and balloons didn't seem like enough so Aram decided to get you -”

Turning around Reddington knocked the cake out of Aram's hands and into the trash.

Reddington snapped at Ressler. “-Yes, let's celebrate twenty-six years of the incompetence of you and your idiot F.B.I. brethren.”

Aram looked like a puppy that had been scolded and didn't know why. “I thought you liked cake.”

Done with the teasing, Elizabeth asked. “Reddington? What is going on?”

Cooper approached. “Is everything okay?”

“Everything is fine. I have a new case for you.”

Ressler baulked. “ _Now_?”

“Oh please. It's not like any of you have anywhere better to be for the evening. Harold is still doing the will they won't they with Charlene and -”

Cooper didn't look pleased with Reddington for mentioning his wife, but Reddington quickly went on. “ - the only one of the rest of you seeing someone is Lizzie.”

“Depressing, but true.” Samar admitted.

Turning to Elizabeth, he asked her. “What were you going to be doing? Hanging out with Tom? Trust me, this will be a much better use of your time.”

Ressler asked. “Do you have us followed?”

“Only some of the time,” Reddington admitted. “Bigger picture, Donald. By midnight tonight, someone is going to be dead unless we do something to stop it.”

Reddington took off his hat. “Your next Blacklister is the Medical Examiner. For a price he can help you get away with murder. He'll remove evidence and he'll plant evidence. He'll let you pick your own patsy or he'll provide one for you.

“While he may never have pulled a trigger, make no mistake, by falsifying evidence and bearing false witness he has killed. The Medical Examiner has sent more than half a dozen innocent men to their deaths and left countless more to rot unjustly in jail.

“Unless we do something to stop it, another innocent will be dead before midnight. His latest victim, Eustace Bigglesworth, is scheduled to be executed tonight.”

“That's not a lot of time. Where are we headed this time?” Ressler asked.

“Not far.” Reddington assured him. “I have an address for you. You will find the Medical Examiner at 401 E. St, SW, Washington, D.C.”

Everyone in the room recognized the address. “That's the Office of _the_ Chief Medical Examiner.”

Reddington feigned surprise “Oh! Did I neglect to mention that he _is_ D.C.'s Chief Medical Examiner? I know usually I, or someone else somewhere along the line, give them one of those intriguing little nicknames, but -” Raymond shook his head ruefully. “- he's just the Medical Examiner. _Disappointing,_ I know.”

“If what you are saying is true ...” Ressler started but he couldn't even finish.

Liz tried to grasp the enormity of the situation. “Every case he has _ever_ worked on or signed off on or even consulted on would have to be reopened and reexamined. You are talking hundreds – no _thousands_ of cases.”

“Let's prove it first and then worry about having to cross that bridge.” Cooper suggested.

“Okay so … how are we going to prove it?” Aram asked.

“We are going to need a second opinion on some of the autopsies the Chief Medical Examiner has performed.” Cooper declared.

Samar scoffed. “We're not going to get one. _No one_ is going to go against the Chief M.E. It would be career suicide.”

Elizabeth wagged her eyebrows and suggested. “I might know someone.”

Realizing who she meant, Ressler pointed out a problem. “You can't be serious. _That_ would _never_ hold up in court.”

“True.” Keen conceded with disappointment.

Cooper thought about it for a minute. “It doesn't have to. We get the evidence and confront the medical examiner with it. Maybe he rolls. If he doesn't, we take our second opinion – neglecting to mention where it came from – and we shop it around to other coroners. No one is going to be willing to be the first to speak up, but once we get the ball rolling people will be happy enough to pile on.”

Seeming to have convinced himself, Cooper gave the order. “Reddington, make the call.”

Reddington was staring at the phone in his hand seemingly lost in thought.

Cooper said his name again. “Reddington!”

Reddington looked up.

“Make the call.”

Reddington declined. “Oh _I_ can't. It’s Mr. Kaplan's day off.”

_tbc_


End file.
